Radio cabinet



May 30, 1939. H. T. ROBERTS RADIO CABINET Filed July 28, 1936 jwem I ma.

Patented May 30, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Seeburg Corporation,tion of Illinois Chicago, 111., a corpora- Application July 28, 1936,Serial No. 93,051

1 Claim.

My invention relates to radio cabinets, and more particularly to thesound chambers thereof, and my main object is to so construct a soundchamber that the tone from both the front and the rear of the speakerwill be projected forwardly from the cabinet.

A further object of the invention is to construct the novel soundchamber along lines of simplicity and economy.

With the above objects in view, and any others which may suggestthemselves from the description to follow, a better understanding of theinvention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawing in which-Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the novel cabinet as seen from thefront;

Fig. 2 is a rear view, partly broken away; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the sound chamber.

In considering the conventional radio, the listener assumes the sound ortone to issue fully in a forward direction from the speaker, althoughtests have proven that as much, or nearly as much sound issues from therear of the speaker as well.

With a radio usually placed against a wall, it will be appreciated thatthe rearwardly projected sound is baflled or mufiled, creatingdistorting and other prejudicial influences upon the sound emitted orheard from the speaker. It is for this reason that I have designed thenovel sound chamber to utilize the sound rearwardly emitted and transmitthe same to blend with the main sound which is forwardly emitted fromthe speaker.

In accordance with the foregoing, specific reference to the drawingindicates a typical radio cabinet at 5. For the purpose of my invention,the sound chamber of the cabinet is rectangular in form, having sides 6,a top I, a bottom 8 and a back 9. The front of the sound chamber isshown open, but may be furnished with a grill, fabric or other facingfor purposes of appearance or embellishment.

The radio speaker I0 is attached in the usual manner to the perforatedsounding board II and preferably inclined in a forward direction,although it may be disposed in vertical position if desired. Thesounding board ll terminates some distance below the sound chamber topI, and takes a forward extension I2 which has a rising course. Theextension l2 terminates a short distance from the front of the soundchamber. Both the sounding board II and its extension l2 are of wood andglued or otherwise secured to the sides 6 of the sound chamber in orderto form an integral part thereof.

With the sound chamber constituted as just described, it is seen thatthe sound from the speaker I0 not only has the usual forward directionof emission, but can also issue rearwardly and rise in the space behindthe sounding board 5 to be reflected in forward direction between thechamber top 1 and the sounding board extension 12, and so issueforwardly and blend with the sound projected from in front of thespeaker. By so constructing the sound chamber, no baflling or distortinginfluences meet the rearwardly emitted sound, so that the same issues innormal condition to mingle with the frontal sound and so amplify andimprove the tone of the latter. Also, due to the closed or sealed tone15 chamber behind the sounding board and its extension uniformreproduction is made possible, since stray sound waves do not issue fromthe back of the cabinet. At the same time, the novel sound chamber isconstructed along lines of extreme simplicity, whereby to make itpossible to manufacture the improved radio cabinet economically.

While I have described the invention along the specific lines shown, thesame is susceptible of 25 various changes and refinements, and I desireto include such changes and refinements as coming within the scope andspirit of the appended claim.

I claim:

A radio cabinet, including a top wall, a pair of side walls, a bottomwall and a back wall defining a sound chamber open at its front, asounding board in said sound chamber spanning the side Walls thereof andhaving its lower edge 35 against the bottom wall of the sound chamber,said sounding board having an opening therein, a speaker mounted in saidopening with the diaphragm thereof substantially spanning the opening,said sounding board being inclined rear- 40 wardly from its lower edgeand having its upper edge terminating in spaced relation to said top andback walls of said sound chamber, a forward extension from the upperedge of said sounding board directed toward the open front 45 of saidsound chamber to create in conjunction with said sounding board adivider in said sound chamber and a compartment around the back of saiddivider for the frontal emission of sound waves from the back of saidspeaker, the path of said waves being first between said back wall andsaid sounding board and then between said forward extension and said topwall to the front of the sound chamber, the forward edge of said forwardextension being closer to said top wall than the rear edge thereof.

HENRY T. ROBERTS.

